Hiker and dog found dead near Walupt Lake (Aug 2022)

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Water
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Hiker and dog found dead near Walupt Lake (Aug 2022)

Post by Water » October 25th, 2022, 7:40 pm

https://www.chronline.com/stories/what- ... ead,302164

Comments on Reddit provide more speculation/information from people closer to the family. Shocked there wasn't even a preliminary news story about this in August.

Thought is the perpetrator is the son of law enforcement or someone else with some pull, hence the lack of news, action, etc.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Portland/comme ... en_friends
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retired jerry
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Re: Hiker and dog found dead near Walupt Lake (Aug 2022)

Post by retired jerry » October 26th, 2022, 6:34 am

"Man, I have always felt that Walupt Lake has a bad vibe around it."

I've been there and it had normal vibes :)

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Re: Hiker and dog found dead near Walupt Lake (Aug 2022)

Post by justpeachy » October 26th, 2022, 6:53 am

That is f****d up.

This reminds me of the mother and daughter who were shot on the Pinnacle Lake Trail in 2006. Still unsolved.

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Bosterson
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Re: Hiker and dog found dead near Walupt Lake (Aug 2022)

Post by Bosterson » October 27th, 2022, 5:54 pm

Here's the update. Both people potentially being charged with manslaughter.
Both Asbach and the teenage girl stated while hiking they heard growling noises and saw the eyes of what they believed to be a wild animal. Asbach told deputies out of fear, he fired a single shot from a gun toward the animal.

A short time later the two checked the area and found the body of Christensen and his dog.
We'll see if that holds water, their story sounds pretty flimsy. The idea that he accidentally killed both a hiker and a dog with a single shot, from far enough away to not be able to see they weren't a bear or whatever, isn't especially plausible...

https://www.kptv.com/2022/10/27/2-accus ... is-county/
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Limey
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Re: Hiker and dog found dead near Walupt Lake (Aug 2022)

Post by Limey » October 27th, 2022, 7:47 pm

Channel six has a slightly different story.
https://www.koin.com/news/officials-rel ... ker-puppy/

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Water
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Re: Hiker and dog found dead near Walupt Lake (Aug 2022)

Post by Water » October 28th, 2022, 7:37 am

More of the details seem to be coming out.
1) Aron and his puppy left Friday August 19th, AM to go camp somewhere about 6.5 miles away~ supposedly. Nannie Ridge to Sheep lake is 4.5 miles as is trail 101 to "Short Trail Camp" by an unnamed lake near the PCT

2) The murderers say they killed him or they left Walupt Lake around 9pm (it isn't exactly clear) on August 19th.

3) The murder happened 3-4 miles from Walupt Lake on trail 101

4) The murderers then say they were on their way to meet a family member at Sheep Lake Campground (there is no campground..) but leaving at sunset to hike there via 101 to PCT seems far fetched.

5) The murderers say they exited the woods on the 20th

6) Aron and his puppy are found on the 20th, police arrive.

7) A family member of the murderers called police on the 21st to indicate 'they may have information'

8) The sheriff hears this cockamamie story and... doesn't do anything with the suspects. Tells the family not to go to the media. And nothing happens for 2 months until there's a new story by the family. Then the coroners report gets released a few days later and charges filed the next day. Sheriff says they had to wait for certain forensic stuff to get done.

this is the stinkiest police/woods/murder story I've heard in a long time. Imagine it was the Sheriff's wife who got shot under these same circumstances. Think it would take 2 months to get forensics done? think the shooter wouldn't be arrested?
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retired jerry
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Re: Hiker and dog found dead near Walupt Lake (Aug 2022)

Post by retired jerry » October 28th, 2022, 7:48 am

From watching silly crime documentaries on TV, 2 months for forensics isn't unreasonable

But, the story stinks. It's not credible that one shot would kill both puppy and human.

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Re: Hiker and dog found dead near Walupt Lake (Aug 2022)

Post by squidvicious » October 28th, 2022, 3:42 pm

I've read so many different twists on this story and what people allegedly said / were told by police that I still don't feel like I have a grasp of the most basic facts.

I know the average person's idea of a police investigation is 99.9% based off how it works on TV, which even in the best case tends to make the reality look like a glacial mess. And the internet has a way of quickly transforming rumors into incendiary "facts." But there's some genuinely weird claims flying around on this one. I remember one of the earlier reddit posts (from a friend or family member?) said the puppy had been shot multiple times--that was a point people found particularly disturbing even before the "single shot" news came out. And the family's statement claims they were originally told it was a heart attack and no foul play was involved? That would be... a heckuva miscommunication.

Even taking the shooter's statement at 100% face value, it is still my nightmare scenario for every time I see someone say they got scared hiking so now they're going to start carrying a gun "for protection": paranoid, high strung, trigger happy idiot hears rustle in the bushes and starts blasting away blindly, now I'm dead.

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Re: Hiker and dog found dead near Walupt Lake (Aug 2022)

Post by Bosterson » November 3rd, 2022, 9:58 pm

Latest update. It also ran in the Oregonian so good to see this getting more traction.

https://www.chronline.com/stories/a-hik ... -as,303035
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Re: Hiker and dog found dead near Walupt Lake (Aug 2022)

Post by Bosterson » December 30th, 2022, 6:27 pm

4 months later, and still no changes filed or any updates on the investigation... :?

https://www.chronline.com/stories/still ... ort,305807?
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